Free downtown Corpus Christi parking spots may be eliminated

Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
Chaparral Street in downtown Corpus Christi is one area that may soon have parking meters. Pending final City Council approval, a parking advisory committee will be formed in August to discuss that idea.

Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
The free parking on Chaparral Street in Downtown Corpus Christi is one area that may soon have parking meters. A new parking advisory committee will be formed in August to discuss that idea. (shot 7/13/2011)

Rachel Denny Clow

Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
Chaparral Street in downtown Corpus Christi is one area that may soon have parking meters. Pending final City Council approval, a parking advisory committee will be formed in August to discuss that idea.

Rachel Denny Clow

Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
City staff recommended adding 260 parking meters in high-traffic areas of downtown, specifically along Chaparral Street. Pending final City Council approval, a parking advisory committee will be formed in August to discuss the idea.

Rachel Denny Clow

Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
Chaparral Street in downtown Corpus Christi is one area that may soon have parking meters. Pending final City Council approval, a parking advisory committee will be formed in August to discuss that idea.

Rachel Denny Clow

CORPUS CHRISTI - Free parking in some parts of downtown Corpus Christi might not be free for long.

As part of an overhaul of the city laws regulating paid parking in uptown and downtown areas, the city will establish a parking advisory committee charged with picking places to add parking meters.

The committee, which will start meeting in August, also will oversee rate changes, which the City Council gave preliminary approval Tuesday, and decide where new meters that accept credit card payments will be staged. Those new meters are expected to be added in October, if the council approves the second reading of the new ordinance at its meeting next week.

Adding new parking meters will require City Council approval, under an amendment the council asked for Tuesday that would give it, and not the committee, final say.

The city doesn't plan to expand parking meters along the seawall, despite some rumors that it was planned, Parking Director Marc Denson said. A handful of parking meters along Shoreline Drive close to the Bank of America building are set for replacement, but the city won't add more Shoreline meters.

Chaparral Street, a major downtown thoroughfare that has mostly free parking spots with 2-hour time limits, is a prime place for added meters, Councilman David Loeb said.

Employees and long-term visitors park along that street, ignore the time limits and create a shortage of parking spaces for area business patrons, Loeb said.

"The purpose of having (meters) is not making money," Loeb said. "It's to make sure there is a supply of short-term parking for those who need it."

Councilman Kevin Kieschnick said he was against adding meters in areas of downtown where businesses don't expect it.

"It changes their business model," he said. "If down the road, we have a thriving downtown, it's another story. We're not there yet. We don't want to hurt anyone's business."

Brad Lomax, who owns several downtown businesses including Water Street Oyster Bar and Executive Surf Club, said he has mixed feelings on the idea. He spends about $20,000 a year for employee parking lots but said other downtown businesses allow their employees to park in spaces that ideally would be for customers.

"If I had a magic wand, I'd leave it the way it is," he said. "I'm trying to be a team player. They put some thought into the plan. Hopefully it will get the people abusing the system out."

Joey Mendleski, who works at antique shop Betty's Trash to Treasure on Chaparral Street, said she thinks adding meters will turn away customers. She tries not to park in the two-hour spots, but said sometimes there aren't other options.

"Where are we supposed to park?" she said. "If they want people working downtown, and all the lots are full, where should I go? It's just greed."

Chaparral Street has had parking meters before, but the city experimentally gave the area free parking in 1991, Denson said. The city hoped the year of free parking would revitalize the area. It didn't, but the meters were removed permanently anyway.

Before new meters are added, the committee's first job will be replacing outdated ones. Meters that allow only an hour of parking will be replaced first, followed by those in high-traffic areas where more people are likely to want a machine that accepts credit cards.

All the new machines will charge 75 cents an hour for parking, up from older machines that charge 25 cents an hour. The city tried to increase rates several years ago but couldn't because the mechanics of the old meters couldn't be updated to reflect the rate increase.

The committee, which officially will be formed if the council approves it with a second vote next week, will be made of area residents and business owners.